Alena Schaim, the executive director of IMPACT Personal Safety in Santa Fe, was relieved to hear children followed their instincts to stay safe in two apparently unrelated abduction attempts this week.

"It was incredibly brave," Schaim said of an Eldorado girl and her 9-year-old neighbor, who worked together to escape from a 20-something-year-old man on Chaparral Court on Monday. "We concentrate so much on what children do to each other that is harmful that this was a great example of little girls acting in numbers.

"These kids did the right thing. (The 10-year-old) ran to safety and got help from an adult," Schaim said of Friday's incident where a female Sweeney Elementary School student escaped an abduction. "Thankfully it didn't have to come to a physical situation."

Schaim wrote on The New Mexican's Web site that "violence prevention is possible" and in situations like this, children oftentimes should simply trust their instinct, which she said is key to escaping possibly dangerous situations.

"That's the great thing about intuition — you don't need to teach it," Schaim said. "You need to teach people to listen to it. Most kids can tell the difference between someone who means them harm and someone who doesn't."

Schaim noted that simply lecturing a child on how to keep themselves safe isn't an effective method. She cited a 20/20 special in which children were given a lesson in class about not talking to strangers. The show had planted several "strangers" armed with puppies and lollipops and none of the children could resist talking to the strangers.

"But parents can give kids that outlook on how to approach a situation if somebody tries to cross their boundaries," Schaim said.

She also mentioned a few of the strategies they teach in their co-educational Kid's Class, such as setting boundaries with adults and learning how to resist bribes, guilt and threats. They also teach how to tell an adult about a situation they may think is dangerous.

"Oftentimes we know that a kid might tell someone and (that person) may not be as responsive as we'd like them to be," Schaim explained. "Adults are really busy and it might take a bit to get their attention. We teach them to say, 'This is serious and it can't wait.' "

IMPACT Personal Safety is offering the next Kid's Class on March 21 and 28. For more information or to sign your kids up, call 992-8833.

Schaim discussed a situation where a former IMPACT student was in the park with her baby sitter this summer when a man tried to abduct her. According to an IMPACT testimonial from the girl's father, she was a not too far from her baby sitter when a man grabbed her. She yelled, screamed and hit the man with her scooter and he ran away.

"He dropped her and ran away," the father writes. "Her IMPACT skills probably saved her life."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.